Short Solangelo Story
by SapphireEverleigh
Summary: Nico attempts to leave camp after the Heroes of Olympus win their victory over Gaea. Someone, however, tries to stop him before he can do so.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! Solangelo is my OTP so I thought this would be cute to share. This is the first story I've ever put on my account, and I'd love to know whether or not you guys liked it/what I can improve. So please review, and enjoy!**

I awoke to the sunlight creating stripes across my face, or at least as much as the Hades cabin accommodated for. I glanced at Hazel at the other side of the room, sound asleep. No surprise, after what we just went through. I got out of bed, careful not to wake her, and gathered my belongings, heading towards the beach. I wondered what time of night it was.

The waves of Long Island Sound lapped against my ankles, and the rhythmic calm seemed almost ironic, after the chaotic and harrowing journey my friends and I had faced. Or rather, my acquaintances. Darkness cannot make friends, because Darkness cannot run the risk of being overrun by light.

I'm tired of darkness.

I considered what it would be like to stay. With my few belongings at my feet, my sword, skull ring, and spare black shirt, I felt pathetic. A sudden wave of despair washed over me. Coming back, seeing the people I had journeyed with return to the places where they were welcomed, where they belonged...well, it was a harsh reminder that no such place existed for me, a child of the Underworld. I had let myself forget that, for only a few days, while it felt like my companions had made the Argo II their home, while it felt like it was my home, too. While it felt like I belonged, at last, somewhere. And yet here I am, once again facing the borders of the camp I am not quite apart of. Always an outsider.

 _Fine_ , apart of myself thought. _Let me be an outsider. That's who I am_.

 _I don't want to be that anymore,_ a voice in the back of my head argued back. I sighed, tearing myself in two between the part of myself that wanted to remain in the shadows, and the part that wanted to try and find the light.

It was almost as agonizing as Tartarus.

"Midnight walk?" I heard a voice say behind me.

"Will?" I asked. I hadn't realized it until I heard his footsteps, but I had been waiting for him to come this whole time. I had expected it, though who did he think he was, just casually walking up to a child of Hades and saying, _sup?_

"Can I sit?" He asked, in the middle of sitting down. Once he was comfortable, I murmured "no" under my breath.

"What's that?"

"Nothing."

Silence.

"So," Will started, "You didn't think I'd seriously let you leave, did you?" He glanced down at my meager stock of inventory.

"Um, yeah, I kinda did," I responded. "Besides, what's it to you?"

"Aggressive," Will noted casually, smiling. That distracted me a bit, but I had to stay on the task of getting him and his cute smile to _leave me alone._ Um, did I say cute? I meant annoying.

"I just don't get it," I admitted. "Why do you care so much what happens to me? I'm a child of the Underworld, I radiate darkness, I'm younger than you, I don't _belong_ anywhere, I-"

Will interrupted me by pressing his lips against mine.

That shut me up real quick.

I stood still for a couple of seconds, with my hands at my sides, unable to process what was happening. That was the last thing I expected him to do. I thought he would realize who I was and run away. Or even worse, try to make me better, more like the others. But he wasn't. He was kissing me, not for being anyone else, but for being exactly who I was, darkness and all. A boy was kissing me. No, scratch that, _Will_ was kissing me.

Suddenly, I came out of my coma and eased into the kiss, realizing with certainty that this was what I was supposed to be doing. I made him laugh softly for a second, smiling against my lips until he resumed right where he left off.

His lips were soft, with a hint of ambrosia as if all the godly food he had been feeding his patients stayed with him somehow. His tenderness only a doctor could possess made me forget where I was and what I was doing, until my surroundings faded away and all that was left was the proximity of his face next to mine and the electricity that seemed to be filling up the air around us.

And I was pretty sure Jason wasn't there.

After what seemed like forever, he broke away.

"You do belong somewhere, Nico." The way he said my name sent a thrill up my spine.

"You belong with me."

Gods. It just _had_ to be a Taylor Swift lyric. Nothing like that to ruin a moment. "If you ever pull that again-" I warned, but my chest filled with warmth.

"Don't worry," Will said. "We'll have plenty of time for me to pull that again." With that, he winked and held out his hand for me to grab and helped me stand up. Then he laced his fingers with mine and directed me along the beach.

"Come on," he said. "It's not close to breakfast yet. I want to show you something."

"Fine." I grumbled, letting him guide me along in my new home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hope you like the latest installment! Please review, I would love to hear whether or not this made you smile/what I can improve. Enjoy!**

We walked along the shore silently, stopping in front of the infirmary.

"Um, Will?" I asked, "I'm pretty sure I've seen the infirmary. It's the place where people go to die. I'm kinda the 'Lord of Death' and all that, so…"

Will looked at me, dumbfounded, and shook his head, as if re-considering the kiss we had shared earlier.

"Dude, do you have to be so morbid?"

"I'm a child of Hades." I explained. More staring, but this time I'm I saw the corners of his mouth turn up. Now _I_ was confused. Had I made a joke?

"Are you okay?" I questioned.

"Yeah," now he was full out grinning. "I'm great."

"Okay...um, remind me what we're doing here again?" Will rolled his eyes.

"Just come on." And with that, he opened the door and led me inside.

If you were expecting a huge surprise that would make me leap backwards into Will's arms, you were mistaken. (And I say that with absolutely no joy. If I'm being honest, that's kind of what I was hoping for, too.) But nope. Laid out in front of me were rows of empty beds, and cupboards lining the walls. As far as I could tell, nothing had changed since the last time I'd been here. I turned to see Will's expression, thinking maybe the thing he had been expecting to show me had somehow disappeared. Instead, I found that the sparkle in his eyes gleamed brighter than ever, awaiting the opportunity to dazzle me. I found that sparkle extremely distracting.

"Come on, Death boy," he urged, grabbing my hand. I had to fight off the impulse to slap him for calling me death boy, but that would mean letting go of his hand. Usually I don't like physical contact, but his skin didn't give me the repulsive reaction I tended to have when others touched me. Instead it radiated warmth, compelling me to grasp tighter.

Will led me towards the back of the room, stopping at the very last cot.

"Wow," I exclaimed, with a hint of sarcasm. "It's a bed."

He shook his head and laughed for a moment, a bright laugh that seemed to fill the entire room with light.

"No, no, no!" He said, and then pointed to a spot just under the bedpost that I had failed to notice just a moment earlier. "You don't see that?"

He was looking at a faded outline of a square on the floor, next to the bed's leg. It was covered in dust and wedged in the middle of the cot and the wall, fitting almost perfectly between them.

"Wow," I repeated myself, still very monotone,"It's a square."

Will gave me a hard look that said, _If you don't shut up and at least pretend to be interested I will never kiss you again._ I smiled, and he stared more intensely, saying, _if that threat didn't work, I could just kill you._

So, naturally, I shut up and listened.

"It's not _just a square_ ," Will explained mockingly, "See that hatch? It's a trapdoor."

I bent down to inspect the floor further, and found that there was, indeed, a rusted hatch that had been worn away from years of neglection.

Haha, kind of like my soul.

Kidding! I'm kidding, jeez. If I told Will that joke, the look he gave earlier would not have been just a threat. I pried my fingers on the hatch, willing it to budge. Eventually, the trapdoor popped open, revealing a spiral staircase that descended down into the darkness below.

Hm. Maybe I didn't know how to deal with smiley, sunshiney boys, but the scary, unpredictable underground? That was definitely up my alley.

Will leaned over my shoulder, so close I felt his breath on my face. My heart started beating unnaturally fast at the close proximity. Then he backed away, and suddenly everything around me felt empty, void of his presence. It wasn't a feeling I enjoyed.

"Well," he said, "I've never actually been down there, but since you're the 'King of the Dark-'"

"Lord of Death," I corrected.

"-I figured you might want to check it out," He continued, as if I hadn't said anything. I had to admit, it felt good that he had thought of me when he discovered the trapdoor. It was reassuring to know that I was as present in his mind just as much as he was in mine, even if I was afraid to admit it.

Without a second thought, I reached out and kissed him, then pulled away just in time to see the tips of his ears turn bright pink. A small smile played on my lips as I turned and set my foot on the first stair, descending into the darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! I love the idea of Nico and Will's friends pulling pranks on them and in general just having fun with their relationship, so I decided to play with that concept a little here. I had a lot of fun writing this, so I hope you have fun reading! Enjoy the latest installment and as always, please review!**

Whatever I had been expecting, it was not this. One lone hallway was stretched out before me, and torches blazing with fire lined either side of the walls. Dirt covered every exposed inch of the tunnel, and beyond the torches, there was no sign that anyone had been here in the past couple decades.

Well, except for a crumpled up piece of paper on the floor. Curious, I leaned over to pick it up, but before I grabbed it I remembered who had led me here in the first place.

"Will!" I hollered to the lone square of light above me, "Coast is clear!"

At those words, a blur of yellow and orange came hurling down into the cavern-like space, and a second too late I realized where that falling blur was going to land.

"Gauhrau!" I grumbled as Will fell on top of me, sending us both sprawling into the dirt. I had the urge to slap him away from me, but the part that wanted him to stay with his limbs entwined with mine was much stronger.

"Will!" I complained, though I was trying very hard to suppress a smile.

"Sorry, Death boy," Will said sheepishly, making no attempt to hide his own grin.

We stayed there together for a minute longer than socially acceptable, because we thought that way it would be harder for an enemy to spot us.

...Yup. That was the reason.

"GUYS!" A voice called from nowhere, and we sprang apart faster than Annabeth runs when she sees a spider. And that's pretty fast.

Ignoring the heat rising in my cheeks from whatever the voice had witnessed, I placed one hand on my Stygian sword, ready to unsheath. A sense of deadly calm had overtook me, and at the moment, I only had one goal: keep. Will. safe.

The Voice spoke again.

"I seriously didn't think you two would be so incompetent as to ignore the message you have received, but if you hadn't been too busy _cuddling-"_

I coughed.

Will laughed.

"-You would have opened it already."

"Excuse me, Mr., um Voice?" Will asked.

"Yes?" It responded. I know this sounds crazy, but for a millisecond I swear I recognized it. I decided to bring that up to Will later.

Funny, how all my thoughts were now tailored towards him. Everytime something new came into my mind, my reaction was ' _Oh, I should tell Will that_.'

Stupid sunshine boy, messing with my brain.

"What message?" Will questioned. His forehead creased with worry. He was cute when he did that. Sorry, irrelevant. I seriously needed to focus.

His experession made me remember the piece of paper, and the fact that I may have forgotten to tell him about it. In my defense, him cuddling me was a pretty good excuse for forgetting. Oh, um _protecting_ me. Yeah, that's what I meant. Him protecting me.

We made eye contact, and I tossed the piece of paper over. A silent message passed between us.

 _Whatever is in this, we face together. No matter what._

He opened the piece of paper. Then he read aloud,

"Clue #1:

 _Congrats! And welcome to the game_

 _Hand in hand, will lovers reign?_

 _In a room where ancient spirits reside_

 _Two shall discover, side by side."_

Okay, maybe I was surprised when I entered the cavern. But this? This was a whole new level. Will looked at me, and his expression was along the lines of _whatdowedowhatdowedowhatdowedo?_

I smirked at him, then shot his way a pointed look, one that said, _I don't know Will, whatever shall we do? If only someone hadn't gotten us into this_ _**in the first place.**_

He pouted, which in turn made me smile. The voice brought us both back to reality.

"Hello!" it spoke, and again I thought I heard something familiar within the tone. "Shouldn't you guys be figuring out what this means instead of just staring into each other's eyes? Staring into each others eyes isn't normal?!" The voice sounded almost as confused as Will's face looked.

"Well," I said, still looking at Will because, honestly, since when have I done anything normal? "I suppose the first step would be uncovering what 'the ancient spirits reside' room is."

"Or," Will proposed, having regained his composure, "the will lovers reign line? I think that's equally as important." He looked at me with his eyebrows raised and a smile playing on his lips. I slapped him. I would have settled for throwing a blue hairbrush, but unfortunately Rachel Dare wasn't there.

Will rubbed his now-tender cheek, still managing a slight smile. "Okay," he said. "Guess we'll have to find out later." He winked.

I slapped him again.

"Focus!" The voice commanded in a sharp tone

Breaking off our bickering, we both turned towards the voice, hands at our sides and backs straight, as if a part of the military. I almost wanted to say, _reporting for duty, sir!_ But I doubt that would have gone over well.

All of a sudden, I heard snickering echo around the cave, in the same fashion the voice had delivered his message. And then a very muffled, _shut up!_

The pieces came to together all at once. Yup, I _definitely_ knew who that was.

I stole a look at Will, who's eyes were wide with fear. I wondered briefly if he had ever been on a quest before, before the almost-battle-with-the-Romans. I doubted it.

 _Jason,_ I mouthed to him, _And Percy in the background._ I hated to admit it, but I would recognize that laugh anywhere. Although my feelings for him had died long ago, some things just always stay with you. No matter what.

I saw Will's face morph from fear to confusion to shock, and then his eyes gleam mischievously.

 _I take it you have an idea?_ I mouthed, still afraid that the voice, AKA Jason, would overhear.

 _Yea,_ he responded. _I have an idea._

The voice called for us to focus again, and I snapped to attention, but not before I could make out the rest of what Will was mouthing.

 _Whatever game their playing,_ he said, _all we have to do is play along._


End file.
